Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

World War I: Anniversaries

lord crisp: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to commemorate the victims of the explosion at the Chilwell Shell Filling Factory that took place on 1 July 1918.

lord crisp: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether theyplan to commemorate the women who worked at the Chilwell and other shell filling factories during the First World War.

lord henley: In the last Parliament, The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy worked with the All Party Parliamentary Group on Recognition for Munitions Workers to explore ways to ensure that the collective efforts of all those who worked in munitions factories were not forgotten. This included several positive steps such as the march past of former munitions workers in the Remembrance Sunday parade in 2012. While the All Party Parliamentary Group is no longer active, my Department is continuing to work with campaigners to establish how the valiant collective effort of former munitions workers could be recognised. BEIS has no plans for any specific local commemoration which are best determined at a local level.

Construction: Conditions of Employment

baroness hamwee: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the report Shaky Foundations: Labour Exploitation in London's Construction Sectorby Focus on Labour Exploitation.

lord henley: The Government will consider this report alongside other published reports and research. As set out in the Government Response to the Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices, we currently have four consultations taking place on employment status, increasing transparency in the labour market, agency workers and enforcement of employment rights. These consultations cover some of the issues discussed in this report and we have committed to firm action and future legislation where appropriate.

Banks: Company Accounts

baroness bowles of berkhamsted: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Henley on 9 April (HL6568), whether the ongoing supervision of banks by the Prudential Regulation Authority, as set out in the Financial Services Act 2012, absolves auditors of their responsibilities in respect of the full accounting solvency requirements of the Companies Act 2006; and if so, under which provisions of the Financial Services Act.

lord henley: Auditors’ responsibilities to their clients under the Companies Act 2006 do not differ between those companies that are subject to prudential regulation under the Financial Services Act 2012 and those that are not.

Company Accounts

baroness bowles of berkhamsted: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Henley on 11 April (HL6619), why the guidance setting out generally accepted practice on realised and unrealised profits is produced by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and WalesandInstitute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland; and, in determining who should produce that guidance, what account was taken of section 464 of the Companies Act 2006 which provided for the Financial Reporting Council to be the body prescribed to set statements of standard accounting practice relevant to the company's circumstances and to the accounts.

lord henley: The guidance issued by the Institute for Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland concerns the generally accepted practice of directors in determining the distribution of profits by their companies. This is not the subject of an accounting standard, which are issued by the Financial Reporting Council, as the prescribed body under section 464 of the Companies Act 2006. The powers under Section 464 of the Companies Act 2006 are limited to statements on the standard practice applicable to a company’s annual accounts.

Carillion: Insolvency

lord mendelsohn: To ask Her Majesty's Government how manybusinesses are currently owed payments by Carillion following that firm’s collapse; and what number of those are small businesses.

lord henley: In his role as liquidator of Carillion, the Official Receiver is an officer of the court and is independent of government. The liquidation process for such a complex and interconnected group of companies will take some time, as will gathering in full information regarding the creditors of the companies. We are carefully monitoring the situation and we have established a Taskforce with industry and unions to actively monitor the impact on SMEs and the supply chain, and to assess the action that can be taken to mitigate these effects. The Taskforce has delivered a range of supportive measures. This includes nearly £1bn in support to those affected from UK lenders; the British Business Bank giving available support of up to £100m to small businesses, through their delivery partners, using the Enterprise Finance Guarantee; assistance from HMRC to those experiencing difficulties paying tax and Government funding to ensure continuity of vital services.

Carillion: Insolvency

lord mendelsohn: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the total amount of payments owed by Carillion to (1) all businesses, and (2) small businesses.

lord henley: In his role as liquidator of Carillion, the Official Receiver is an officer of the court and is independent of government. The liquidation process for such a complex and interconnected group of companies will take some time, as will gathering in full information regarding the creditors of the companies. We are carefully monitoring the situation and we have established a Taskforce with industry and unions to actively monitor the impact on SMEs and the supply chain, and to assess the action that can be taken to mitigate these effects. The Taskforce has delivered a range of supportive measures. This includes nearly £1bn in support to those affected from UK lenders; the British Business Bank giving available support of up to £100m to small businesses, through their delivery partners, using the Enterprise Finance Guarantee; assistance from HMRC to those experiencing difficulties paying tax and Government funding to ensure continuity of vital services.

Company Accounts

baroness bowles of berkhamsted: To ask Her Majesty's Government why the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) used the solicitor Richard Fleck to prepare the FRC’s guidance on true and fair view in 2011 and to instruct counsel; in appointing Richard Fleck, what account was taken of his having been (1) previously a practice partner at Herbert Smith advising KPMG and PwC on matters including auditor liability, and (2) a member of the FRC Board or predecessor body board since 1986; and whether that board membership was in compliance with the FRC’s own criteria for independence of nine years.

lord henley: The FRC’s Guidance on True & Fair View published in 2011 was issued by the FRC following full consideration by the FRC's Accounting Standards Board (ASB) and Auditing Practices Board (APB). It was signed by Mr Roger Marshall and Mr Richard Fleck as the respective Chairs of those Boards. The FRC consider that Mr Fleck's involvement in the development of the guidance was consistent with the FRC's Code of Conduct applicable to non-executive members of the FRC Board and its operating bodies. It also considers his membership of the APB and the FRC Board consistent with the terms of the Articles of Association of both the APB and the FRC at the relevant times. Mr Fleck’s term on the FRC Board did not exceed nine years.As explained in the reply given to the noble Baroness on 12th February 2018 to Question HL5215, the FRC considers that instructions to Counsel held by it are subject to legal professional privilege.

Radioactive Waste

lord judd: To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking as part of their consultation on geological disposal infrastructure for nuclear waste to screen out those areas of the UK that are geologically unsuitable for the disposal of nuclear waste.

lord henley: Ahead of the launch of a siting process for a Geological Disposal Facility, the Government will publish the findings from a National Geological Screening (NGS) exercise that brings together existing information about England, Wales and Northern Ireland’s geology relevant to the long term safety of a geological disposal facility. The findings from this exercise will not assess areas as either ‘suitable’ or ‘unsuitable’, but will provide an initial indication of the likely geological suitability of an area where the local community is interested in participating in the consent-based siting process for the disposal facility. There are a large range of potentially suitable geological settings in the UK, and the findings will inform early discussions with communities and provide the basis of subsequent detailed, site-specific geological investigations, which will be necessary to determine, whether a location is suitable or unsuitable.

Radioactive Waste

lord judd: To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they have taken to assess (1) which areas of the UK are most geologically suitable for the disposal of nuclear waste, and (2) which areas are less geologically suitable; and what priority they will give to the outcome of that process in consulting local communities prior to designating a site.

lord henley: Ahead of the launch of a siting process for a Geological Disposal Facility, the Government will publish the findings from a National Geological Screening (NGS) exercise that brings together existing information about England, Wales and Northern Ireland’s geology relevant to the long term safety of a geological disposal facility. The findings from this exercise will not assess areas as either ‘suitable’ or ‘unsuitable’, but will provide an initial indication of the likely geological suitability of an area where the local community is interested in participating in the consent-based siting process for the disposal facility. There are a large range of potentially suitable geological settings in the UK, and the findings will inform early discussions with communities and provide the basis of subsequent detailed, site-specific geological investigations, which will be necessary to assess the degree to which a location is suitable or unsuitable.

Radioactive Waste

lord judd: To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking to evaluate the suitability of offshore sites at (1) 5km, (2) 20km, and (3) other distances from the shoreline for the disposal of nuclear waste.

lord henley: The Government has undertaken generic design work on the construction requirements for a Geological Disposal Facility, which demonstrate that the depth of the underground facilities are expected to be between 200m and 1000m. This work demonstrates that while the surface structures and access points of a Geological Disposal Facility will be located on land, the design could allow the underground facilities to extend offshore if accessed from onshore surface sites. Therefore the National Geological Screening (NGS) exercise will bring together existing information about England, Wales and Northern Ireland’s geology relevant to the long term safety of a geological disposal facility examines geological attributes out to 20 kilometres from the shore which is the extent of UK territorial waters.

Radioactive Waste

lord judd: To ask Her Majesty's Government how they will make public their findings of the relative geological suitability of all parts of the UK, including potential offshore sites, for the disposal of nuclear waste.

lord henley: Ahead of the launch of a siting process for a Geological Disposal Facility, the Government will publish the findings from a National Geological Screening (NGS) exercise that brings together existing information about England, Wales and Northern Ireland’s geology relevant to the long term safety of a geological disposal facility. These findings will be presented in the format of a series of brief narratives describing the key characteristics of the geological environment and their relevance to safety for siting a Geological Disposal Facility for the whole of England, Wales and Northern Ireland, subdivided in to 13 regions and out to 20 kilometres from the shore. The narratives will be illustrated with maps, where appropriate. For some attributes, information will be presented at a national level only, because data are very sparse or vary little across all regions, and so there will also be a short national output presenting this information, which is applicable to all regions. The findings will be made available in an accessible form, providing authoritative information that can be used in early discussions with communities about their geological potential to host a disposal facility.

Research: EU Grants and Loans

lord taylor of warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to apply for membership of the ninth EUFramework Programme for Research and Innovation after leaving the EU.

lord henley: The Government has consistently stated its commitment to ongoing collaboration with the EU in Science and Innovation and recognises the important contribution this makes to the UK. To that end, we want to ensure that the next EU Framework Programme (FP9) remains focused on excellence, with appropriate financial contribution for Associated Countries, and a suitable level of influence. Our recent FP9 position paper sets out further details. Ultimately, the UK’s participation in FP9 will depend upon the outcome of our negotiations with the EU.

Small Businesses: Digital Technology

lord taylor of warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to encourage more small businesses to invest in digital transformation and to help those businesses become aware of the tax incentives available for development in that area.

lord henley: The Government has made considerable effort to engage on these issues through the recent publication of its Digital Strategy in March 2017. We want to create a digital economy that works for everyone and would refer in particular to Chapter 4, The wider economy - helping every British business become a digital business. In addition, the Business Basics programme aims to reach Small to Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) across the country to improve their productivity, by looking at the barriers and enablers to implementing technologies such as new accountancy software or performance management systems, building the evidence of effective approaches in the process. Similarly, the Be the Business programme aims to help SMEs better understand the simple changes they can make to boost their productivity through adoption of practical technological solutions. Be the Business has developed a national digital platform and benchmarking tool to engage, educate and enable SMEs to improve their productivity. Finally, SMEs can claim R&D tax credit for eligible resource costs in R&D projects. Transformation projects involving R&D would qualify for this.

Ministry of Justice

Pre-sentence Reports

lord wasserman: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many pre-sentence reports were issued in England and Wales in each financial year from 2011–12 to 2016–17 in cases where the index offence was (1) a summary offence, (2) a triable either way offence, and (3) and indictable only offence.

lord wasserman: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many pre-sentence reports were issued in England and Wales in each financial year from 2011–12 to 2016–17 in cases where the index offence was (1) violence against the person, (2) a sexual offence, (3) robbery, (4) a theft offence, and (5) criminal damage.

lord wasserman: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many pre-sentence reports were issued in England and Wales in each financial year from 2011–12 to 2016–17 in cases where the index offence was (1) a drug offence, (2) apossession of weapons, (3) a public order offence, (4) a fraud offence, (5) a summary non-motoring offence, and (6) a summary motoring offence.

lord keen of elie: The information requested, where possible, has been provided in the attached table. The total number of pre-sentence reports produced for eligible offenders over the last few years correlates with the fall in overall offenders in the criminal justice system.The breakdowns requested in HL6522 are not available due to differences in offence recording in the database. The breakdown for possession of weapons, public order offences and summary non-motoring requested in HL6525 are also not available. Otherwise, the table covers all of the offences categories, with theft labelled as ‘theft and handling’.



Table
(Word Document, 43.45 KB)

Sentencing

lord wasserman: To ask Her Majesty's Government what were the rates of concordance between sentences and pre-sentence report recommendations in England and Wales in each financial year from 2011–12 to 2016–17 in cases where the index offence was (1) a summary offence, (2) a triable either way offence, (3) and indictable only offence.

lord wasserman: To ask Her Majesty's Government what were the rates of concordance between sentences and pre-sentence report recommendations in England and Wales in each financial year from 2011–12 to 2016–17 in cases where the index offence was (1) violence against the person, (2) a sexual offence, (3) robbery, (4) a theft offence, and (5) criminal damage and arson.

lord wasserman: To ask Her Majesty's Government what were the rates of concordance between sentences and pre-sentence report recommendations in England and Wales in each financial year from 2011–12 to 2016–17 in cases where the index offence was (1) a drug offence, (2) a possession of weapons, (3) a public order offence, (4) a fraud offence, (5) a summary non-motoring offence, and (6) a summary motoring offence.

lord keen of elie: The information requested, where possible, has been provided in the attached tables. The total number of pre-sentence reports, produced for eligible offenders, over the last few years correlates with the fall in overall offenders in the criminal justice system.The breakdowns requested in HL6523 are not available due to differences in offence recording in the database. The table covers all of the offences categories as requested in HL6526 except theft is labelled as ‘theft and handling’, and criminal damage and arson is labelled as ‘criminal damage’. The breakdown for possession of weapons, public order offences and summary non-motoring, as requested in HL6527, are not available. The offence category for fraud is included within ‘fraud and forgery’.



Table
(Word Document, 74.12 KB)

Sentencing

lord wasserman: To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of pre-sentence reports recommended (1) immediate custody, (2) suspended sentences, (3) community sentences, and (4) fines, in England and Wales in each financial year from 2011–12 to 2016–17; and what were the rates of concordance between sentences and pre-sentence report recommendations for each of those recommendations in cases of (a) standard delivery reports, (b) written fast delivery reports, and (c) oral fast delivery reports.

lord keen of elie: The information requested has been provided in the attached tables. The total number of pre-sentence reports, produced for eligible offenders, over the last few years correlates with the fall in overall offenders in the criminal justice system.



Table
(Word Document, 53.72 KB)

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Brexit

lord roberts of llandudno: To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had about Brexit with local authorities in areas where the majority of the electorate voted for Remain in the 2016 referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU.

lord bourne of aberystwyth: This Government is working with local authorities and a wide range of other interested parties to understand the opportunities and challenges of EU Exit and plan for a wide range of scenarios. We are working to make a success of EU exit for all local authorities and places, whether their areas voted ‘Leave’ or ‘Remain’.

Ministry of Defence

Syria: Military Intervention

baroness cox: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 8 March (HL5782), how they reconcile the statement that “our military role in the Global Coalition is limited to air strikes” with the presence of a British soldier in Syria who was killed by a roadside bomb in Manbij on 29 March.

earl howe: Sergeant Tonroe, who was killed on 29 March 2018, was embedded with US forces on a counter-Daesh operation.

Syria: Military Intervention

baroness cox: To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the outcome of the investigation by the Global Coalition into the death of a British soldier in Manbij, Syria, on 29 March; and whom that investigation determined was responsible for laying the bomb.

earl howe: The Government will not provide any additional information on the circumstances surrounding the death of Sergeant Tonroe at this time.

Department for Exiting the European Union

Brexit

lord taylor of warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that all the required legislation for leaving the EU is passed by Parliament before any vote on the final Brexit deal.

lord callanan: The Government is committed to delivering a smooth and orderly exit from the EU and the Queen’s Speech 2017 set out the legislative programme to support this. Six exit-related bills have been introduced in Parliament in this session: the EU (Withdrawal) Bill, the Nuclear Safeguards Bill, the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Bill, the Trade Bill, the Taxation (Cross-border Trade) Bill and the Haulage Permits and Trailer Registration Bill. The Government has always said we will bring forward further legislation as required to deliver our exit. This includes the Withdrawal Agreement & Implementation Bill that would give the Withdrawal Agreement domestic legal effect. Only after Parliament has voted in favour of the final deal will we introduce the Withdrawal Agreement and Implementation Bill.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Food: Advertising

baroness cavendish of little venice: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to reduce the advertising of unhealthy foods to children (1) online, and (2) on television.

lord ashton of hyde: There is a clear need to address childhood obesity on health and social justice grounds and this government is committed to tackling the issue and supporting people in making healthy choices. The UK currently places strong restrictions on the advertising of foods high in fat, salt or sugar (HFSS) in media. New rules came into effect in July 2017 banning the advertising of HFSS food or drink products in children’s media. These restrictions complement similar measures already in place for broadcast media where advertising of HFSS products is prohibited, during, before and after programmes directed to or likely to appeal to children. This is in addition to rules that apply across broadcast media that adverts must not be used to condone or encourage poor nutritional habits or unhealthy lifestyles in children, prohibiting for example the use of character/celebrity endorsements. The Secretary of State has regular discussions with his ministers and Cabinet colleagues on a number of issues pertaining to broadcasting, including advertising regulation, and our public health priorities are kept under review as we remain committed to ensuring that the UK has a robust approach.

Food: Advertising

baroness cavendish of little venice: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to update the definition of unhealthy foodproducts that are high in fat, salt or sugar (HFSS) in relation to the regulation of HFSS advertising on television.

lord ashton of hyde: We are working closely with the Department of Health and Social Care as the lead department on the development of the updated Nutrient Profile Model, which is currently out for public consultation. The adoption of the model is a matter for Ofcom and the Advertising Standards Authority.